Solar Impulse plane lifts off from Moffett Field

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The ground crew moves the Solar Impulse, the experimental airplane, into a hangar after it made a test flight at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, Calif. Friday morning April 19, 2013. (Patrick Tehan/Staff)

As its name ardently implies, the experimental aircraft Solar Impulse draws its power strictly from the sun. So when it lifted off from Moffett Field on Friday at zero dark thirty (OK, 5 a.m.), where did it get the juice to rise and shine? “It was sitting outside and having a sunbath,” explained Alexandra Gindroz, the media relations manager for the Swiss-French team. Half a dozen photographers wandered around the airfield in glimmering daylight, waiting for the plane’s 208-foot wingspan to appear, as Gindroz nervously entreated them, “Please do not be too much everywhere all over!”

Solar Impulse — which was testing its wings before a scheduled May 1 departure for its flight across America — spent two hours in the air, achieving an altitude of 4,500 feet before descending near the Stevens Creek Shoreline Nature Study area. During the plane’s descent, it passed near the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course, whooshing by duffers on the dawn patrol in near silence as the aircraft’s four 10-horsepower motors puttered past at about 30 miles per hour. On its way to a perfect landing, the plane was escorted by what appeared to be a turkey vulture, possibly auditioning for a sequel to the movie “Fly Away Home.”